Forms are widely used to provide a structured method for the entry of data. Specifically, forms are composed of fields. Fields include field value reserved space and field labels. The field labels describe, to a human operator, the type of information (i.e., field value) requested to be submitted into the field value reserved space. Often, humans submit information into forms by hand or print a form and sign by hand. Then, the human may scan or take a picture of the form to create a form image.
At the receiving end, computer systems attempt to extract the data from the form image. The data includes the field values as well as information describing that which the field values represent. For example, the field value of “George” may refer to a first name, a last name, or a street name, and, thus, has an ambiguous meaning. However, when combined with information about the field, the field value of “George” has meaning and is data that may be populated into a database. In order to extract the data, computer systems often rely on being able to identify the type and version of the form. A corresponding template for the type and version of the form is identified and overlaid onto the form. The corresponding template identifies the locations of the reserved space for field values for each field in the form as well as the information represented by the field values.
One area in which forms are widely used is in the financial sector. Specifically, forms are often used to gather financial data to make decisions and file financial reports. The financial sector has thousands of versions and types of forms, which often change at least on a yearly basis. In other words, not only may the version change, but also the form type may change. The change may be minor or may be significant, such as moving the location of fields, removing or adding fields, and changing the requested field values. To manage the changes and to continue to be able to extract data, the corresponding templates are updated. Updating templates involve a human creating and/or proofing the new template. For each form that changes on a yearly basis, a human is involved in updating the form.